THE MERIDIAN CONFERENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXII, Issue 7414, 3 December 1884, Page 3

THE MERIDIAN CONFERENCE.

The International Prime Meridian Conference assembled at Washington on Oct. 13 pursuant to the call of the presiding officer. Admiral Rodgers. Upon the recommendation of the latter, a Committee was appointed to receive and consider the numerous communications addressed to the Conference from ail parts of the world upon the subject of a prime meridian. The Committee was composed of Professor Adams, Great Britain; Mr Hinckeldeyn, Germany ; Professor Abbe, United States; Professor Kikeechi, Japan; and Mr Echeverria, Costa Rica. The President stated that notwithstanding all the efforts of the Secretary there had been much delay in perfecting the protocols, but he hoped that after the employment of a French stenonihor the proper corrections would be e by the delegates as soon as possible, in order that the protocols might be approved. Mr Sanford Fleming, of Canada, then made an argument against the adoption of the neutral meridian recommended by the French delegates. Dr Crues, of Brasil, spoke in favour of it. Upon putting the question to a vote the proposition to adopt a neutral meridian was defeated—yeas, 3; nays, 21, each nation casting a single vote. Mr Rutherford then renewed his original resolution, which was as follows.—-" The Conference proposes to the Governments here represented the adoption of the meridian passing through the centre of the transit instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich as the initial meridian for longitude.” . , . Mr Fleming,,of Canada, moved as an amendment that the Conference adopt the 130th degree of longitude, west or east from Greenwich, as the prime meridian, but the other delegates from Great Britain opposed this amendment, and it was lost. Mr Valera, the Spanish Minister, stated that he had been instructed by his Government, in voting for the meridian of Greenwich, to say that he hoped the normal system of weights and measures would be adopted by England, the United States, and the other nations here represented a* recommended by the conference at Rome. General Steaehoy, of Great Britain, said that he was authorised te state that hi* country had asked to be allowed to join the Metrical Convention, and that the metrical system was already recognised by the laws of Great Britain and was in use for amentifln purposes. He could not, however, say that it would be adopted under any circumstances as the popular system of weights and measure# throughout the kingdom. Mr W. F. Allen, of the United States, made an argument la behalf of Jh® meridian of Greenwich, and presented the resolutions adopted by the Railroad Convention, in Philadelphia, protesting .against a change of meridian. Mr lefeme, of France, said that the meridian of Greenwich was not the scientific meridian t that it implied no progress in any of the sciences, but was merely a commercial standard. Since, therefore, nothing would be gained to science by adopting Giwmwioh. Prance could not make a sacrifice of her own meridian, and incur the vast expense consequent upon the adopUon-ol a new one, because she would thereby gam no advantage whatever. . w . Sir William Thompson, who is delivering lectures in Baltimore, was present as a guest, M b ol fcrencc,spoke at somelimgtb in farour the adoption of Greenwich. He held that it was purely a matter of convenience, and that Greenwich answered tho ronvemence of the world better Hum any other standard There was an effort madotodiscus* the was not te'the ; tkawasa morass® United States, it was not a peeper subject for pteaent dlstotedco. Sir Frederick Brans, of Great Britain,

iju*n present'd a comparative atatement Rhowmff that the tonnage of shipping eon-tr-.lleil by the Greenwich standard oflongiiHde wa« in round number* while that controlled by the Pari* standard w « " n, J 1,735.000 ton*. He also submittca a statement of thonumter of charts, purehaaed by nation* outside of Great tfntam for scientific and commercial purm order to show how largely that mendj an j a now being used. Mr Eutherord » resolution in favour of Greenwich m the prime meridian was then adopted, t * ’""ting in favotir of it , one, San uommgo, against it, and Franco and lirasil • r ,Un «- Mr Rutherford rel l?- ’ V,,d ! f*'i"ption of the following > :>n " h rom this r OrwnJlhvtir HhM U in two teteJnf P , V> ««* longitude T/: r ;. ; ! an<l r;: ,t ‘"nitride minus " , 1 * r Mtan Minister spike in favour of «riT' v ‘ f ' Tl . (: ’ >nnt ‘sewenhanpt, ike ? mov.d to adopt the fourtb resolution of the Roman Conference, counting long it ud- continuously through the whole 3Gj degrees. Huron von Aivenaiclwn, the German Minister, said that this was a matter of detail, and that he . -mid not vote upon it. The Hrituh delegate* agreed with the German Minister, and said it did not make any difference which method wai adopted. Juan Fwtehn, one of the delegate* from Spain. mor,d. a» an amendment, that longitude he counted westward continuously around the world. On the following day a resolution was adopted providing that longitude should Mj c-ounUxl from th<? men abut of (ireeih wich in twctfdirection* ap to 180 degree* east longitude pin* and west longitude miutis. A resolution was also adopted "that the Conference propose* the adoje tion of a universal day for the purposes for which it may lie found convenient, and which shall not interfere with the ose of local Or other standard times where desirable.” An adjournment was taken nntil the Monday, when a resolution was to be considered that “ this universal day is to be a mean solar day, is to begin for all the world at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the begi nin gof the civil day and date of that meridian, and is to be counted from zero up to 2-4 honra.”

Regarding the changes agreed to by the Conference, the Melbourne A ryu* says 7 A cable message has been published fhfft on and after Jan. 1 next, the Greenwich Observatory will alter the present system of reckoning the time of day, and will adopt the method of naming the hours from 1 to 21, We are not informed whether the change is intended to be commonly adopted or only in public departments, nor whether the civil day will, as heretofore, be said to commence and end at midnight or at noon. Neither do we know what has induced the Greenwich Observatory to thus unexpectedly announce a decision which was approved of by its representatives at the meeting of the International Geodetic Association in Borne so long ago as I October ISS3, when a resolution was passed to the effect that, in the interests of public convenience, the hoars of the day should be universally numbered from 1 to 24. Nevertheless, Mr Ellery, Government i Astronomer, has given us some interesting | information respecting the cablegram. He points oat that the determination of the Greenwich Observatory has no legislative effect, and that the new system of numbering is not likely to be used, except by the Admiralty, and in the compilation of railway and other time-tables, for many years to come, and until people become gradually accustomed to tie alteration, and sensible of its advantages. The change is not by any ibwuw a novelty, as all observations have 24 hour dial clocks. Greenwich time-tables are always made np in accordance with the counting of the day as one period of 24 hours, and in early days a few clocks had dials marked in the same way, until it was found that they could be reach more easily constructed by dividing the day into the post-meridian and ante-meridian periods, which sometimes occasion mistakes and confusion. In spite of this, people now living are, in Mr Ellery’s opinion, unlikely to hear even public clocks striking 24, and watches as a rule will retain their present familiar features. It would be very unwise, Mr Ellery thinks, to alter the present hour of commencing the day, and although the cable is silent upon the subject, he does not apprehend that this will be done. It is almost unnecessary to say that the new registration of the hours of the day will in no way affect the time now recorded at any place in the world, this being a matter of longitude which also engaged the attention of the International Geodetic Congress at the meeting in Borne previously referred to. The question discussed haa since become one of international interest viz., whether, for purposes of navigation and geography, the present system of reckoning longitude from all the chief cities of different countries shall be continued, or some standard meridian agreed upon to form an initial point for all nations alike. The result of Uus, as far as the first meeting in Borne was concerned, was a consensus of opinion in favour of adopting Greenwich as the initial meridian, for obvious reasons, more particularly as by far the largest uumber of charts used for navigation are constructed on this basis. At a subsequent meeting of theCongreai at Washington in October of this year, the whole question was re-discussed, all representatives agreeing on the adoption of Greenwich, with the exception of the French representatives, who voted for some initial point intersecting one of the Atlantic Islands. It was therefore considered that Greenwich was virtually adapted. Meanwhile, rhe first practical step towards the unification of time haa been taken by the railway companies of the United States and Canada, which have adopted, throughout their system of railways, 100,000 miles ia length, standard time reckoned from four meridians respectively—five hours, six hours, seven hours, and eight hours .west of Greenwich, and thus agreeing with Greenwich mean time as to the minutes and seconds. Time signals in accordance with this system were commenced by the Yale CoUcge Observatory on Nov. 18, when the new standard “ Eastern time,” five hours west of Greenwich, was substituted for New York City Hall time, which Is 3min 58’4seo fast “of Eastern time.” The chief advantage of the change is that travellers going less than 000 miles reckon by the time of the place whence they started, and for each additional 900 miles their watches are exactly one hour fast or slow, according to the direction in which they are travelling. By this means reference to time-tables is greatly simplified.